Friday, September 18, 1987/The Jewish Floridian of Tampa Page 15-B
Horrors Of Holocaust Now Hit Survivors
By HUGH ORGEL
TEL AVIV The delayed
reactions by many Holocaust
survivors to the trauma of four
decades past is increasingly a
problem for them, and the
focus of researchers here.
A recent seminar on "Ef-
fects of the Holocaust on the
Aging Population," organized
for professionals working with
the elderly by Jerusalem's
Shaare Zedek Hospital
Geriatric Institute and
Emunah College, surveyed the
latest effects of imprisonment
in the camps. It also examined
"survivors syndrome,"
whereby the delayed effects of
Holocaust trauma surface only
decades later.
Speakers noted that
memories became more vivid
later in life, and some elderly
Holocaust survivors begin to
relive their war horrors, bring-
ing back long-repressed
memories. They often suffer
physical and mental
breakdowns, self-imposed
social isolation or even suicidal
tendencies.
They become people without
loyalties, feeling stateless and
culture-less. They lack a sense
of personal identity. Most are
unable to share their ex-
periences with their spouses
and children, and are afraid to
love.
Dr. Henry Shor, a senior
psychiatrist at Shalvata
Hospital, explained that some
patients he had treated for
severe depression, apathy or
psychoses were reacting to
World War II experiences they
had managed to repress.
He said that during the war
these people had used all their
physical and emotional
strength to deal with emergen-
cies at hand. "Even mourning
was a luxury that no one could
afford at the time if he wanted
to survive," Shor explained.
After the war, he said, while
trying to rebuild their broken
lives many became
"workaholics," escaping into
their jobs to flee from the past.
They married or remarried,
raised children and tried to
forget.
Thus, retirement can be
especially traumatic for the
survivor. The halt of regular
work often leads to total men-
tal or physical breakdown, the
researchers said.
Dr. Tikva Natan of Haifa
University noted that the price
40 Years After
of such repression was high,
with survivors tending to
"deaden" their feelings and
thus being unable to sustain a
n o r m al parent-child
relationship.
The survivors, she said, were
either protective, fearful,
smothering parents with
unusually high expectations
or, on the other hand,
withdrawn, unresponsive and
overly harsh."
Dr. Julius Elraz, himself a
former camp inmate, spoke
about the guilt harbored by
Holocaust victims often for
decades. "They try to push
Israeli Prime Minister Shamir To
Address CJF General Assembly
NEW YORK, N.Y. To
commemorate the upcoming
40th anniversary of Israel,
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir will be the featured
speaker at the 56th General
Assembly of the Council of
Jewish Federations, Nov.
18-22 at the Fontainebleau
Hotel in Miami Beach.
The Assembly, the largest
annual gathering of North
American Jewish community
leaders, is expected to draw
over 3,000 delegates who will
participate in more than 300
meetings, including plenaries,
business sessions, forums,
symposiums, workshops,
seminars, receptions and other
events.
The theme of the Assembly
is "Dor L'Dor: From Genera-
tion to Generation Building
Community and Continuity
Through People." ShoshanaS.
Cardin, President of CJF, will
speak on this subject in a
Keynote Address delivered
during the opening plenary
session on Wednesday even-
ing, Nov. 18.
Throughout the Assembly, a
wide range of other topics of
interest and significance to the
global Jewish community will
be explored, including:
Transmitting Jewish
Knowledge, Commitment and
Values; Israel and North
America: Sustaining the Part-
nership Across the Genera-
tions; Israel as "Strategic Al-
ly": Changing Constellations
Congregation
Schaarai Zedek
3803 Swann Avenue
876-2377
(Tampa's Oldest Reform Jewish Congregation)
extends beet wlshee for the New Year
to the entire Jewish community.
RABBI RICHARD J. BIRNHOLZ
LUCILLE K. FALK
Prime Minister Shamir
of U.S. Support; Soviet Jewry:
Rescuing the Next Generation;
Ethiopian Jewry: Completing
the Task; The Role of Cam-
paign in Reaching the Next
Generation; Overlooked and
Uninvolved Populations:
Faculty, Students, Singles;
Also, Religious Unity and
Diversity: A "Trialogue* with
Orthodox, Conservative and
Reform Rabbis; Are Jewish
Adolescents a "Lost Genera-
tion?; Growing Instability in
French Minister
Pledges Fight
Against
Terrorism
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
French Interior Minister
Charles Pasqua, whose office
is responsible for internal
security and combating anti-
Semitism, pledged that France
would continue its protection
of the French Jewish com-
munity and its fight against
terrorism.
His remarks come in light of
last year's wave of Paris street
bombings and fears of stepped-
up revisionist activities by
French neo-Nazis.
Pasqua spoke to an audience
of Jewish leaders at the B'nai
B'rith International Head-
quarters building in
Washington.
Pasqua said he "would like
to guarantee freedom of
religion and risk-free educa-
tion to all people living in
France, but warned against
giving asylum to those who
wish to perpetuate terrorist
actions.
He added, "It is obvious to-
day that the Jewish communi-
ty is not the only target of
terrorists."
the Arab World Conse-
quences for Israel, the U.S.
and Canada; Recruiting a New
Generation of Professional
Leaders.
The Council of Jewish
Federations is the national
association of 200 Jewish
Federations, the central com-
munity organizations which
serve nearly 800 localities em-
bracing a Jewish population of
more than 5.7 million in the
United States and Canada.
Established in 1932, CJF
helps strengthen the work and
the impact of Jewish Federa-
tions by developing programs
to meet changing needs, pro-
viding an exchange of suc-
cessful community ex-
periences, establishing
guidelines for fund raising and
operations and engaging in
joint planning and action on
common purposes dealing with
local, regional and interna-
tional needs.
For more information on the
General Assembly call the of-
fice of the Jewish Federation
of Palm Beach County,
832-2120.
away the thought, 'Why did I
remain alive while so many
better than I died?" he said.
"They inevitably feel they sav-
ed themselves by the death of
others and there are case
where this is indeed true."
Dr. Betty Brodsky of the
Feuerstein Institute remarked
that such people "have a need
to punish themselves" and
cannot to this day allow
themselves to enjoy life or take
part in happy events.
Holocaust survivors undergo
another traumatic experience
when they need hospitalization
or nursing care. They then feel
a loss of control over their own
destinies by submitting to
authority as they did 45 years
ago. But they also recall the
sadistic experiments they and
their children were forced to
undergo in the camps. They
panic at the recollection that it
was the sick and infirm who
were murdered first.
According to the experts,
aging concentration camp sur-
vivors suffer from insomnia,
nightmares, predisposition to
illness and hypochondria,
chronic fatigue, impatience
and aggressive behavior
toward others.
But on the positive side, the
camp survivors are by and
large a tight brotherhood who
maintain contact.
Some survivors feel they re-
mained alive to "bear witness"
and hence, after retirement,
when they finally come to
terms with their memories and
their present situation in life,
many "open up" for the first
time in 40 years, the seminar
participants were told.
J
HttwimmimiH
CONGREGATION
RODEPH SHOLO/H
2713 Bay shore Boulevard
Tampa. Florida 33629
MM 911
72TD2
Congregation Rodeph Sholom
Rabbi Kenneth R. Berger
Cantor William Hauben
Louis Morris, Chairman-of-the-board
Bernice Wolf, President
Deborah Hafetc,
Education-Youth Director
Nancy CriaweU. Office Manager
Renee Vidal. Secretary
Wish the Entire
Jewish Community a Healthy. Happy A
Prosperous New Year
Newcomers to our community who desire
High Holiday tickets call 837-1911. College
students and military will receive complimen-
tary tickets upon request.
5
mm
iiisimisiiiiiniinnitJ
wswintw